Method and Apparatus for Identifying Features of Multidimensional Image Data in Hypermedia Systems

1. Software embodied in one or more computer readable-media when executed operable to: display, within a Web page on a client computer coupled to a network environment, a plurality of two-dimensional image maps being representations of an original multi-dimensional image having more than two dimensions, with locations in the two-dimensional image maps specified by values of first and second coordinates which specify locations in said representations of the original multi-dimensional image; select a particular location on one of said two-dimensional image maps having particular values of the first and second coordinates, where selecting the particular location on the two-dimensional image map determines a multi-dimensional coordinate, including at least three coordinate values, which, indicates a specific location in the original multi-dimensional image; initiate access to a correlated location in a secondary map, where the secondary map is a data structure which holds a plurality of multi-bit object indices at locations in the secondary map, with the correlated location homologous to said specific location, to retrieve a specific object index for said specific location after said particular location of the two-dimensional image map displayed on the client computer is selected; and cause a server computer coupled to the network environment to utilize said specific object index for said specific location to access a program action associated with said specific location.

2. The software of claim 1 where the multi-dimensional image is a three-dimensional volume image and the two-dimensional image map is a planar slice of the three-dimensional volume image.

3. The software of claim 1 where the multi-dimensional image is a video clip and the two-dimensional image map is a frame of the video clip.

4. Software embodied in one or more computer readable media when executed operable to: utilize, on a server computer coupled to a network environment, a specific object index for a specific location to access a program action associated with said specific location; wherein said object index is obtained by the execution of code, on a client computer coupled to the network environment, to display, within a Web page, a plurality of two-dimensional image maps being representations of an original multi-dimensional image having more than two dimensions, with locations in the two-dimensional image maps specified by values of first and second coordinates which specify locations in said representations of the original multi-dimensional image; wherein said display is to allow a user to select a particular location on one of said two-dimensional image maps having particular values of the first and second coordinates, where selecting the particular location on the two-dimensional image map determines a multi-dimensional coordinate, including at least three coordinate values which indicate said specific location in the original multi-dimensional image; and wherein said selecting further initiates access to a correlated location in a secondary map, where the secondary map is a data structure which holds a plurality of multi-bit object indices at locations in the secondary map, with the correlated location homologous to said specific location, to retrieve said specific object index for said specific location after said particular location of the two-dimensional image map displayed on the client computer is selected.

5. The software of claim 4 wherein said selecting occurs on said client computer.

6. The software of claim 4 wherein said secondary map is located on said client computer.

7. A method of serving digital information, the method comprising: receiving a request for a distributed hypermedia document at a network server; transmitting the distributed hypermedia document from the network server to a distributed hypermedia browser in response to receiving the request, the distributed hypermedia document including an HTML tag to cause the display, within a Web page on a client computer coupled to a network environment, of a plurality of two-dimensional image maps being representations of an original multi-dimensional image having more than two dimensions, with locations in the two-dimensional image maps specified by values of first and second coordinates which specify locations in said representations of an original multi-dimensional image, wherein said display is to allow a user to select a particular location on one of said two-dimensional image maps having particular values of the first and second coordinates, where selecting the particular location on the two-dimensional image map determines a multi-dimensional coordinate, including at least three coordinate values which indicate a specific location in the original multi-dimensional image, wherein said selecting further initiates access to a correlated location in a secondary map, where the secondary map is a data structure which holds a plurality of multi-bit object indices at locations in the secondary map, with the correlated location homologous to said specific location to retrieve a specific object index for said specific location after said particular location of said two-dimensional image map displayed on the client computer is selected, and wherein said selecting further causes a server computer coupled to the network environment to utilize said specific object index for said particular location to access a program action associated with said particular location.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said selecting occurs on said client computer.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein said secondary map is located on said client computer.

10. A method for accessing program actions associated with locations in video frames viewed on a computer system, the method comprising the steps of: displaying, within a Web page on a client computer coupled to a network environment, a plurality of two-dimensional video frames, being representations of a multi-dimensional video file, on a computer screen, with locations in the two-dimensional video frames specified by values of first and second coordinates which are x and y coordinates specifying locations in a single video frame of the video file; selecting a particular location on one of said two-dimensional video frames having particular values of the first and second coordinates, where selecting the particular location on the two-dimensional video frame determines a multi-dimensional coordinate, including three coordinate values, which indicates the location of a specific location in the multi-dimensional video file, where first and second coordinates values are values of said x and y coordinates and a third coordinate value specifies a time dimension of the video file; initiating access to a correlated location in a secondary map, where the secondary map is a data structure which holds a plurality of multi-bit object indices at locations in the secondary map, with the correlated location homologous to said specific location, to retrieve a specific object index for said specific location after said particular location of the two-dimensional video frame displayed on the client computer is selected; and causing a sever computer coupled to the network environment to utilize said specific object index for said specific location to access a program action associated with said specific location.